Autonomous Vehicles Solve (and Create) Problems for Ports
Autonomous vehicles are increasingly sophisticated defensive tools for ports wanting to protect against maritime threats - including attacks from other autonomous vehicles.In December 15 last year, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that its underwater drone had struck a Russian submarine in Novorossiysk. The incident highlighted just how sophisticated potential threats have become. Harbor cameras were likely hacked, providing real-time visual evidence of the attack, with associated AI possibly identifying and guiding the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to its target.The value of AI is evidenced by the many technology partnerships that are forming between platform, software and sensor creators. Late last year, Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) announced a partnership with Mythos AI to integrate AI-driven autonomy software across OPT’s fleet of WAM-V autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs). These vehicles leverage real-time edge processing, multi-sensor fusion and adaptive learning for enhanced situational awareness, obstacle avoidance and multi-vehicle coordination.Dr. Fritz Stahr, chief technology officer at Open Ocean Robotics, says the integration of AI to analyze data streams from autonomous vehicles is transforming the field. Enhanced Horizon, Open Ocean Robotics' AI-driven analytics took kit, delivers real-time object detection, classification, and tracking using optical and thermal cameras, giving operators immediate situational awareness above the surface. For underwater intelligence, Underwater Listener is an AI-enabled acoustic monitoring system that detects and visualizes underwater sounds in real time. It captures acoustic activity from sources such as ship engines, marine mammals, and underwater machinery, streaming insights directly to XplorerView.As Shane Swiderek, Product Marketing Manager of Sofar Ocean, points out: “Detection only matters if it's fast enough to act on. Real-time processing at the sensor closes the gap between identifying a threat and responding to it.”Ocean Aero’s Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicle (AUSV) was taken up by the Port of Gulfport in Mississippi last year. Source: Ocean AeroOne of the most pressing challenges is having a clear, real-time understanding of what’s happening in and around a port, says Rob Lehman, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Saronic. Today, many ports still rely on legacy approaches — manpower-intensive patrols on costly manned platforms — which deliver only episodic coverage and leave persistent blind spots that adversaries can exploit, he says. “To counter these threats, we’re seeing a shift in priorities toward solutions that are scalable, autonomous and data-driven, built on distributed, attritable systems capable of operating 24/7 with minimal human oversight.” Corsair, Saronic's 24-foot ASV, supports a wide range of applications including maritime domain awareness, port, harbor, and offshore facility security monitoring, logistics shuttle operations and environmental monitoring.Philip Lewis, Director of Research at Intelatus, has undertaken a comprehensive review of AUV and ASV technology. “Just think of them as a blank canvas,” he says. A flexible variety of payloads means they can undertake a range of tasks including detecting unwanted intruders, people trafficking and illegal migration. They are also being used for firefighting, bathymetry, environmental surveys and trash and algal bloom removal.USVs offer a low-cost immediate force multiplier for port security, he says. “They’re generally quick to take from concept to production, and new solutions are coming out in under a year. They’re unmanned, so they are a lot less complex to build than manned platforms. Take-up has been fastest in big European ports, such as Rotterdam and Hamburg, and in Asian ports such as Singapore, but the U.S. is increasingly focused on the force multiplier effects.”Spotter Scout is an uncrewed, solar-powered vehicle built by Online Oceans.Source: Sofar OceanU.S. government agencies have tested Ocean Aero’s 4-meter Navigator and Discovery models. Saildrone is supplying at least 20 of its Voyagers to the U.S. Navy to monitor illegal activity along the U.S. southern maritime approaches, and the Navy and Coast Guard have deployed MARTAC and SAFE Boat USVs for demonstrations at Californian ports.Ocean Aero’s Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicle (AUSV) was taken up by the Port of Gulfport in Mississippi last year. The vehicle does a full scan of the port twice a week using a variety of subsea payloads including bathymetry, side-scan sonar and magnetometers to produce high-resolution comparative datasets for real-time change detection.From his satellite office in Houston, Ocean Aero CEO Kevin Decker says: “I can say with certainty that there is not espionage or sabotage placed at the bottom of the Port of Gulfport because I checked this morning and I’ve checked twice a week for the past nine months. I can’t say the same thing for the ports of New York City, Los Angeles, Houston or Seattle. In an era of conflict and sea mining, that needs to change.”Forcys and its partners demonstrated their combined underwater and multi-domain security systems at Portland Port, UK, last year. Observers were able to watch the threat scenario unfold in real time as the company’s Sentinel Intruder Detection Sonar (IDS) and MARSS’ NiDAR command and control platform worked in tandem to detect, track, classify and respond to a range of hostile events from underwater and the air.NiDAR is a sensor-agnostic, multi-domain surveillance and security platform that integrates data from a wide array of sensors including sonar, radar, radio frequency and electro-optical/infrared. The demonstration showed the power of integrating both passive and active sonar data when tracking low target strength drones or very slow-moving targets in the highly cluttered seabed conditions typical of some harbors.Dr. Fritz Stahr, chief technology officer at Open Ocean Robotics, says the integration of AI to analyze data streams from autonomous vehicles is transforming the field.Payloads need not be bespoke. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software is reliable, cost-effective and fast to implement – something that Forcys, soon to be part of the Kraken group, takes advantage of. Technical Sales Manager, Benn Pickering, says: “With COTS, you benefit from tried-and-tested technology that has already been proven in real-world conditions.”Another key advantage is that COTS solutions evolve to keep pace with emerging technologies. “At Forcys, we go beyond simply offering COTS products. Our technology partners are creating an ecosystem of compatible technologies that work seamlessly together, providing end-to-end solutions without compatibility issues,” says Pickering. He cites the example of Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav, an all-in-one subsea navigation instrument that integrates an inertial navigation system, a Doppler velocity log and a depth sensor.Like the Ukrainian drone, the sophisticated technologies now available support attack operations as well as defense. In response, ThayerMahan recently released SeaGuard, a non-kinetic underwater defeat system that repels hostile AUVs and deters divers. When coupled with ThayerMahan's TransparenSea, Outpost, and SeaPicket acoustic intelligence solutions, it offers a comprehensive detect-to-defeat chain. “From my time in uniform to my role today, one truth has remained constant: the underwater domain evolves rapidly, and the threats evolve even faster,” said CEO Vice Admiral Mike Connor, U.S. Navy (Ret.).ThayerMahan recently released SeaGuard™, a non-kinetic underwater defeat system that repels hostile AUVs and deters divers. Image courtesy ThayerMahan